Accelerators and particle detectors > How do we experiment with tiny particles? > Accelerators

Accelerators

Accelerators solve two problems for physicists.
First, since all particles behave like
waves, physicists use accelerators to increase a
particle's momentum, thus
decreasing its wavelength enough that
physicists can use it to poke inside atoms.
Second, the energy of speedy particles is
used to create the massive particles that physicists want to study.

How do accelerators work?

Basically, an accelerator takes a particle,
speeds it up using electromagnetic
fields, and bashes the particle into a target
or other particles. Surrounding the collision point are
detectors that record the many pieces of the event.

Question: What is the nearest particle accelerator to you right now?
[ Answer ]